MAINEiacs Announce 2010 Training Camp Roster

Lewiston, ME (QMJHL) - Days are now becoming hours until the Lewiston MAINEiacs take the ice for the first time in the 2010 version of training camp. However, one question remains - who are these guys?

On Thursday morning, a collection of 42 players will either introduce or reintroduce themselves to the ice surface at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Nearly half of the players (20) hail from Quebec, while the remaining 22 are natives of New Brunswick (10), Nova Scotia (5), Prince Edward Island (2), Maine (2), New Foundland (1), Russia (1), and Sweden (1).

While the 2010-11 team will still be on the young side of the QMJHL, this year's squad enters training camp with significantly more experience than the group that fans met in August of 2009. 23 of the 42 players have played in at least one regular season game with the MAINEiacs, while another three have spent significant time with other clubs in the league. Interestingly enough, all three of those players are 20 years old. Goaltender Nicholas Champion and defenseman Olivier Dame-Malka will be playing for their third different teams in the Q, while Antoine Houde-Caron will lace up the skates for his second team.

Despite losing a pair of terrific 20-year olds in Adrien Lemay and Matt Boyle, the returning talent will reflect the team's motto of having a bright future. Last year's leading scorer Pierre-Olivier Morin will be back for his third full season in Lewiston, while leading goal scorer Michael Chaput also returns for his third go-around. Those two will be part of a group of forwards that combined to score 156 goals a year ago.

On the blueline, last year's top defenseman Samuel Carrier is back, along with Samuel Finn, who took home the award for being the team's most inspirational player in 2009-10. Carrier and Finn will both be attending NHL training camps in September, so the MAINEiacs will look to the likes of Olivier Dame-Malka and company to lead the defense in their absence.

For the eighth year in a row, Lewiston's roster will feature at least one player who has been drafted into the NHL. This season, there are two, as Michael Chaput and Samuel Carrier each heard their names called this past summer. Chaput was selected 89th overall by Philadelphia, and Carrier was selected 176th overall by Washington.

Speaking of drafts, the MAINEiacs certainly made noise this summer, walking away from both the QMJHL Entry Draft and the CHL Import Draft with smiles on their faces. In Drummondville, Lewiston wasted little time in getting their hands dirty, trading up for the first overall selection. With that pick, defenseman Dillon Fournier joined his brother Stefan in the MAINEiacs' family. Fournier will be joined at training camp by nine other 2010 draft selections - Christophe Lalonde, Brayden Wood, Antoine Bibeau, Jay Kourkoulis, Chris Caissy, Connor Anthoine, Maxime Godin, Sotiris Athanasopoulos, and Cole McDonald.

A couple of weeks later, Lewiston went to the CHL Import Draft, and came away with one of the top goaltenders in Russia, Andrey Makarov. Makarov will join Swedish forward Oskar Orrpars as the team's two European players.

After finishing the 2009-10 season as the team's head coach, Jean-Francois Houle will be the man in charge of these 42 young men that will bring smiles to Lewiston-Auburn both on and off of the ice.

When training camp begins, the 42 players will be split in half, with 21 players wearing blue jerseys and 21 players wearing white jerseys. The blue team will represent Lewiston, while the white team will represent Auburn in the first ever playing of the L-A Cup.

During Tuesday night's meeting with players and staff, the MAINEiacs announced that the two teams in the L-A Cup will have honorary captains. Lewiston will be led by Louis Nadeau, while Gerry Berube will take the Auburn squad. Both Nadeau and Berube have been season ticket holders with the MAINEiacs since the first day of the franchise, and neither could imagine a life without hockey. "I've lived in Lewiston-Auburn all my life," said Berube. "I feel like hockey is the only game in sports, and it is the number one priority for me," he said. Nadeau echoed that statement, saying, "We go to Tim Horton's in the morning, and [hockey] is all we talk about," Nadeau said.